Has anyone had trouble with their Shiba not drinking enough water? She eats just fine and drinks a little after walks or play time but not a lot. Her urine has gotten a little on the darker side, hinting at dehydration -- which happens easily at high altitude. I'm just wondering if anyone has suggestions for getting her to drink more?

Thanks for the link. She's definitely not acting dehydrated, but her dark urine color made me concerned, and I had already noted that she wasn't drinking much water. I will check into some of the other symptoms to see if it's actually a problem. Otherwise, I guess I'll let her be, and maybe try a couple of the tactics.

Haha I always kind of just notice the color of my pup's urine cus there's so much snow out. It's so deep, my boyfriend sometimes can't tell if he's squatting...his first experience potty training a puppy. So I advised him to look for a mark in the snow if he wasn't sure lol.

Ham doesn't like to drink tons of water in the afternoon/evenings but always whines to drink at bedtime. To remedy this, I let him play with an ice cube. He will play with ice cubes endlessly then lap up the water. That helped me a good bit.

I think the rule is an ounce for every pound? Kuma's about 7 pound. He drinks when he eats and after walk or play. I fill his water bowl in the morning for half a cup(4 ounces) with his morning meal. He typically drinks like 3/4 of it. He will drinks the rest throughout the day before come home. I will then fill another half cup with his dinner. He does pretty much the same.I found that when he drinks about cup and half (12 ounces), his pee become clear and he pees a lot. So I am sticking with the ounce for pound rule.Our water here in Seattle is pretty good(clean and fresh, no taste). And I boil and filter the water for myself and that's what I feed him. Depend on your water source, perhaps try boiling it (getting rid of the chemicals the municipalities add in the water) and add couple drop of juice? I did that before with my yorkie and that works well...

One of mine drinks on command, but has always been an "easy drinker".Suki (adopted) has always been a challenge with water. Since I've installed a decent water filter at home I've noticed his water intake has increased. It's a counter-top reverse osmosis filter which has a couple of carbon filters too (<$AU250).<br />Good luck.

Maybe add a couple of tablespoons of water with the kibble. My dogfood already prescribes to add 1 tablespoon of water per freeze dried nugget. so I'm somewhat assured he's getting moisture from his food.

but this thread was opened last year so most probably that shiba has resolved it's water drinking issues.

I will end with this old adage/proverb"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink"for this case, a shiba inu.

When we first got Koji, this dog would not drink for all the vermeers in the world. He would at most take a few sips and run off. I started calling him our Desert Fox. We didn't do anything about it because he did not seem dehydrated and was normal in every way as a puppy. Then he broke his leg while carousing and running with a much bigger dog. Koji was about 9 months old at the time, and the other dog must have hit him like a freight train. At the doctor, they did an X-ray and an ultrasound. What the ultrasound uncovered were bladder crystals. The doctor, correctly, surmised he had not been drinking enough. If he continued this way, we were told, he was sure to get bladder stones. It was imperative to get him drinking. I went home and made a big pot of chicken soup and added some of the broth to his water. He slurped it up. My husband started to give Koji his own favorite natural spring water, which again he loved. Today he will drink any kind of water we give him, though he will not touch water proffer by others outside the home. His leg healed up beautifully and in some perverted way I am thankful for the accident which woke us up to the reality and hopefully prevented a major health event. (Another way we get him to consume more water is by giving him ice cube with a bit of peanut butter or coconut butter inside.)

To keep my shibas hydrated I give them their water with Honest kitchen base after each meal. I fill the bowls with spring water and then add a tsp of the honest kitchen. If I forget, they let me know. My female will let us know when something is wrong with the water. She will walk to the bowl and not drink it if she notices something. So I have to check the dispenser for any bacteria growth. Another thing to do is they won't drink is to add a bit of coconut oil to the water. My dogs know where the coconut oil is and will stand next to it until you give it to them.

Julius has always drunk less water than other dogs we've had / taken care of (beagles, golden retrievers, English sheepdogs, German shepherds, Yorkshire terriers) -- maybe because he doesn't pant very much or drool. He's also finicky about drinking from metal bowls. We use a non-reactive ceramic water bowl, which I clean in the a.m. and p.m. with each meal.

Outside of the house, he won't drink if he is on edge (i.e. at the dog park surrounded by large dogs), even if he's thirsty.

As long as your pup has a quiet, peaceful, safe place to drink fresh, clean water -- I think she'll be fine! She'll self regulate.